The Great Auk

 


Well, howdy there! I've done said my name's Geir, and Ah'm fixin' to tell y'all 'bout somethin' I had in mind for my first post, which is the Great Auk. Yup, it was once a livin' bird, but it ain't around no more.

The Great Auk, well, it had a spear-like bill, and the name "Geirfuglen" comes from the Old Norse "Geir" which means spear. This bird couldn't take to the skies, but it was a mighty fine swimmer, and it made its living catchin' fish. Now, the Great Auk nested along the shore, kinda like them penguins, and it was the largest of all the auks in the world. Unfortunately, them Vikings and other folks up in the North Atlantic where the Great Auk had its big colonies hunted it down somethin' fierce. See, 'cause it nested along the shore, it was easy to catch since it couldn't fly. The last breedin' Great Auk is said to have been knifed to death on July 3, 1844, on Eldey Island, Reykjanes, where the last Great Auk population was. Its eggs, sadly, got taken too. Some folks even say the last Great Auk was shot in Vardø, Norway, by a fella named Lauritz Odin Brodtkorb. They say there were even sightings of Great Auks in Greenland in the 1850s and 60s.

In 1578, Francis Drake, as he was sailin' through the South Seas, named them penguins after the Great Auk since "Geirfuglen" was called "penguin" in English. So, what're your thoughts 'bout folks huntin' the Great Auk so much? And what 'bout the mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, thylacines, giant ground sloths, giant tortoises (ever heard of Lonesome George, who passed away not too long ago?), all them whales that disappeared before the Industrial Revolution? The so-called Yeti up in the Himalayas and plenty of other critters that have been wiped out by us humans over the past 30,000 years since the last Ice Age, maybe even as long as we Homo sapiens have been around.

With all that said, it's kinda eerie thinkin' 'bout our own kind bein' wiped out, like them Neanderthals who are believed to have died out 'bout 30,000 years ago, most likely due to us humans. Now, what's your reckonin' 'bout all this? Does it shed a light on our own existence as a species and all the mischief we've caused?

R.I.P. Great Auk.

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